International Journal of Technology Management & Sustainable Development - Volume 4, Issue 2, 2005

This article discusses the successful generation, development and delivery of the Egyptian Bt biopesticide known as ‘Agerin’. Two interlinked processes are identified. The first is the transfer of public research knowledge to the private sector, initiated and supported by a new institutional arrangement for patenting and transferring public research. The implications of these developments on biotechnology are examined. The second process is the incorporation of the biopesticide Agerin, the ‘hard’ innovation, into what is regarded as the ‘soft’ innovation process, the integrated pest management system (IPM). Through IPM, and within the public sector, optimum conditions for the application of Agerin were created and the product was delivered to farmers. Extension workers played key roles in selecting and demonstrating Agerin to early adopting farmers. The attributes of Agerin itself (its efficacy, and harmlessness to human health and the environment) added to its appeal. The complex interplay between public and private institutions also contributed to the development, transfer and adoption of the product. The analysis of this case study provides insights into how biotechnology breakthroughs can be delivered in developing countries

It has been suggested that the social sciences would benefit if researchers forged a high-level, creative and dynamic interdependence between theory and research, rather than having them remain as relatively separated domains. This has been termed ‘adaptive theory’, as models, frameworks and conceptual schema are seen as evolving and generative. Adaptive theory asserts that theory construction can be, and should be, subject to continuous improvement - sometimes incremental, sometimes radical. However, few case studies examine how dynamically adapting theory within the research process works in practice. This article describes an attempt to explore adaptive theory through an action research case study of the transfer of a ‘soft’ technology. The setting for our study is the transfer of a ‘soft’ technology from a UK university to a mining corporation in Africa. We begin by ‘setting the scene’, summarizing the evolution of technology transfer and suggesting four dimensions that define technological softness. Then we explore how aspects of a soft technology, continuous improvement (CI), were transferred. Finally, we examine our experience and consider whether we did, in fact, adapt theory or extend understanding of the applicability of extant theories. We conclude that standalone theories were not challenged in a fundamental way but gaps were found and the ways in which theories were configured for use changed markedly.

The resource-based view (RBV) of firms has emerged to provide colour and context to previously homogeneous models of firms and industries. Recent research in this field seeks to better understand the processes of social complexity and causal ambiguity that RBV has developed to explain the elusive impacts of resource interactions within and outside the firm. This article outlines the salient literature in the fields of complexity theory and inter-organizational alliances to develop research questions relating to the motivations for and emergent patterns of these alliances within the context of the Bluetooth standard - an emerging standard for wireless communications.

This article looks at the impact that the viability of organisations that own and manage technological systems has on the sustainability of that technology. Specifically, it looks at the role that organisational viability through time plays in linking technology to its operating environment and stakeholders to ensure sustainability. Using three case studies, the authors show how a lack of organisational viability led to technological unsustainability in established industries. Organisational viability is assessed using Beer's Viable System Model (VSM) and this is also used to address the problems of organisational viability through redesigning the system to ensure sustainability.